Teach Yourself is a classic series and there are various versions washing around in second-hand shops and on peoples bookshelves. As well as the Rhys-Jones edition above, which was superseded in 2000, you may come across the following:

While they might suit someone wanting to read literary Welsh, these two are not really recommended for most learners purposes as the style of Welsh they teach is out of key with that taught nowadays.

COLLOQUIAL WELSHKing, Gareth (1995) Colloquial Welsh: A Complete Language Course. London: Routledge (Colloquial series), ISBN 0-415-10783-0, £9.50 p/b.
2 CASSETTES: ISBN 0-415-10784-9, £14.50.
BOOK AND 2 CASSETTES: ISBN 0-415-10785-7, £22.64.By the end of this course you will be able to communicate confidently and effectively in Welsh in a broad range of everyday situations. 16 lessons including dialogues, exercises and occasional articles on Welsh culture, plus 18-page WelshEnglish glossary and index; two accompanying 90-minute cassette tapes available.
You can see a sample of the text at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/books/0415107857/reader/1/ref=lib_dp_TFCV/103-4207006-2598265#reader-link

HUGO
Brake, Phylip J. and Mair ap Myrddin (1994) Welsh in Three Months. Woodbridge, Sussex: Hugos Language Books Ltd, ISBN 0-85285-230-4, £4.95 p/b.
BOOK AND 3 CASSETTES: Welsh In Three Months Cassette Course, ISBN 0-85285-372-6, £19.95.NOTE: Hugo (Hugos Language Books) has recently become an imprint of Dorling Kindersley (London). They have republished the text at £5.95 (ISBN 0-5285-371-8, 1998). The only change is the colourful new cover so if buying in a bookshop you can save yourself a pound by looking out for old stock in the plain old navy blue Hugo livery.

WELCOME TO WELSH
Gruffudd, Heini (1984) Welcome to Welsh. Talybont: Y Lolfa, ISBN 0-86243-069-0, £5.95 p/b.Cheerful pocket-sized introduction to Welsh based around various farcical situations, mostly exploiting the comic potential of alcohol and the battle of the sexes. The humour is, well, idiosyncratic. A tape of the sketches is also available (about £5), read deadpan and very, very fast.
BOOK, CASSETTE AND STICKERS: £12.49

CASSETTE/CD/VIDEO COURSES

LINGUAPHONE
2 books, 5 (or 6?) cassettes, 30 lessons, £199.90; payment terms: deposit of £33.50 followed by four monthly payments of £41.60; postage and packing: £7.90 for mainland UK and £25.00 for international shipments. http://www.linguaphone.co.ukThe Linguaphone course is based on the now unfashionable Living Welsh (Cymraeg Byw) standard, which their website claims quite incorrectly is the Welsh used by native speakers in everyday informal conversation. I havent actually checked out this course, but the price tag would seem to be as far as anyone need look. £200  plus postage  for a handful of elderly tape cassettes? Who are they trying to kid?

CATCHPHRASE
The well-known BBC radio programme Catchphrase, offers some published material too.http://www0.bbc.co.uk/wales/catchphrase/catchphrase2000/learnmore.shtml
Tapes of batches of 12 lessons, together with accompanying written material are available for sale now at £2.50 and £3.00 plus p&p. Details from Adnoddau Addysg [Educational Resources], Adran Gomisiynu [Commissioning Dept], E3106, BBC Llandaf, Cardiff CF5 2YQ, phone Cardiff +44 (0)29 2032 2838. A first year course called The ABC of Welsh (book plus 4 cassettes containing 32 lessons) is published by the BBC in collaboration with Sain Records. This is an independent course, not meant to accompany the radio lessons, though it uses exactly the same tutors and the same format as the radio course.

NOW YOURE TALKING
A TV series that started in 1990, with the innovation of separate learning materials for North and South Welsh, and one presenter from each region in the TV programmes. The series is available from the recording company Sain on audio cassette (2 sets of 3 tapes each, £14.95 per set) and VHS video tape (3 sets of 2 tapes each, £17.95 per set) as follows. As far as I know, the course is only available in the European PAL system, which doesnt work in American VCRs.cassettes:Now Youre Talking 1 (1990) Sain C421T (N) [North], C421T (S) [South] (3 tapes, £14.95)Now Youre Talking 2 (1991) Sain C463T (N) [North], C463T (S) [South] (3 tapes, £14.95)videos:Now Youre Talking 1 (Units 112) Sain CF18N (2 tapes, £17.95) Greeting people, Asking someone’s name and giving yours, Discussing where you live, Discussing learning and speaking languages – Welsh in particular, Talking about likes and dislikes, Asking for drinks, Discussing work, Discussing plans to go somewhere, Discussing your children, Asking and telling the time, Saying where you’ve been, Apologizing and escaping from a conversationNow Youre Talking 2 (Units 1324) Sain CF29N (2 tapes, £17.95)Discussing members of the family, Locating things around the family, Buying items in the shops, Discussing wants and needs, Talking to
close friends and children, Letter changes in Welsh and revision, Describing people, Giving directions around town, Cancelling arrangments, Discussing local news, Discussing everyday routine, Discussing illnessNow Youre Talking 3 (Units 2536) Sain CF30N (2 tapes, £17.95)Asking permission, Answering the phone, Discussing a day out, Complaining and praising, Discussing an accident, Talking about people’s memories, Giving commands in the house, Discussing theft, Discussing children, Looking at a famous career, Discussing the future, Talking about other people’s plans

CADW SWNCadw Sw^n [making a noise] is a complete home-study Welsh course on 10 CDs containing 20 lessons, suitable for beginners, using stories read over relaxing classical music. £79, including p&p in the UK (e-mail post@cadwswn.com for shipping charges to other countries). Its Mozart bach! Learn Welsh using the revolutionary power of classical music [ . . . ] The course uses classical music to speed the learning process by stimulating the reasoning and creative parts of the brain [ . . . ] You wont believe how quickly and easily you pick up Welsh! (diolch i Colin Jones, Cadw Sw^n)http://www.cadwswn.comCatchphrase review:http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/catchphrase/catchphrase/review-cd.shtml.

CD-ROM COURSES

CD-ROM courses can provide a very fancy learning experience: sound, animation and interactivity. But theyre often not cheap and its important to know what youre getting. I havent used any of these courses, but for in-depth reviews of the products below, visit the BBCs Catchphrase website, http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/catchphrase/catchphrase/review-cd.shtml.

DYNA HWYLDyna Hwyl [This is Fun] is a beginners CD-ROM course from W. S. Atkins costing about £100 inc. VAT. Dyna Hwyl is an affordable CD-ROM based Welsh Language tutor suitable for beginners. It is based on the Open College Network Standard for the teaching of Welsh and is based on the first 100 hours of classroom tuition. A free Tiwtor [tutor] service is (or was?) offered by Swansea College allowing students to have their work assessed. Additional exercise modules are available for downloading from the Web Site. Not available in Mac format but can be run on a Mac using a Windows emulator. (diolch i Emyr Wyn Morris, Preseli)http://www.preseli.com/dyna-hwyl. Rachel Treadaway writes: This is a great package for the beginner. Content is relevant and well-presented. Navigation is effortless  the learner is guided through each lesson using audio and video clips. [. . .] There is frequent opportunity to test your knowledge and Dyna Hwyl!s partnership with Swansea College means that you can also get individual feedback by sending your written work there for assessment. 4 out of 5. [Quoted with permission from BBC Catchphrase CD-ROM reviews page at http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/catchphrase/catchphrase/review-cd.shtml.]

TALK NOW! (EUROTALK)
A company in London called EuroTalk also have a Welsh CD-ROM, called Talk Now!. It covers essential words and phrases and includes a unique recording feature. This allows you to hear and compare your voice with a variety of native speakers, which sounds like fun. There is also World Talk for intermediate learners, which apparently is a big jump from the very basic Talk Now! and concentrates on testing than teaching, and a Vocabulary Builder for children. Talk Now! costs £24.99 (£29.99 for World Talk and £19.99 for Vocabulary Builder), and is covered by a money-back guarantee: If its not what you want, just send it back.http://www.eurotalk.co.uk/welcome.htmlRachel Treadaway writes: [Talk Now!] is certainly entertaining, ideal for a child learner starting from scratch, but it lacks depth of content. [. . .] If youre looking for a complete learning package Eurotalk isnt for you. If you want to take on basic phrases and vocabulary quickly in a fun learning environment you may be getting close. 2½ out of 5. [Quoted with permission from BBC Catchphrase CD-ROM reviews page at http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/catchphrase/catchphrase/review-cd.shtml.]

THE ROSETTA STONEExplorer (introduction) £26. Level I (92 lessons taking beginners to an intermediate level): £195 (special home-user price £180). The Rosetta Stone offers fast and effective language learning on PC or Mac. Each Level I pack provides over 250 hours of introductory instruction in a chosen language, with 92 lessons in 8 units (including a review lesson for each unit). Each pack comes with its own language CD-ROM, a curriculum text and an illustrated user guide. Twelve available run-modes offer Voice Recognition and Dictation in addition to Listening and Reading Comprehension, thus allowing the user to make thorough use of the available material in an appropriate learning style. To see an online demo, or a downloadable one, go to the Rosetta Stone website. Failing that, You can order The Rosetta Stone Demo CD-ROM for only $4.95 (including regular shipping to US and Canada) by calling 800-788-0822 (in the U.S. or Canada) or 540-432-6166 (elsewhere in the world). You get everything available here plus even more sample chapters! (diolch i Colin Jones, Bwrdd yr Iaith)http://www.trstone.com/EDU/index.shtml (reviews, testimonials, demo, screen-grabs etc)http://www.tomino.dial.pipex.com/about.shtmlRachel Treadaway writes: No literal translation of the words and phrases is given; instead of words, Rosetta Stone uses pictures to define meaning  a solution thats often ambiguous [ . . . ] The same problem applies to the printed text that comes with the package; written in Welsh. [ . . . ] Its a good package if you want to brush up on your spoken Welsh but with no lessons in grammar, no instruction on how to string a sentence together and ambiguous translations its not ideal for complete beginners. 2 out of 5. [Quoted with permission from BBC Catchphrase CD-ROM reviews page at http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/catchphrase/catchphrase/review-cd.shtml.]The British distributors of The Rosetta Stone, Tomino, have kindly supplied Gwybodiadur with a demo CD, and some comments on it will be appearing here soon.

LINKWORD WELSH
Not a course as such, but a CD-ROM product which, it is claimed, can be used to learn a basic vocabulary in 1012 hours. It works by associating vocabulary items with memorable mental images (on the same method as Michael Grunebergs book Linkword Welsh). It costs £24.95. There is an
online demo at http://www.tomino.dial.pipex.com/linkword/linkword.htm.

RADIO/TV COURSES

These days, with the increasing dominance of the Internet, the future of broadcast language tuition seems uncertain. This seems a pity in that language courses are such a good advertisement: many peoples interest in languages was originally aroused by hearing or seeing something just by chance.

CATCHPHRASECatchphrase is a famous long-running Welsh-teaching programme on BBC Radio Wales, where a celebrity learner receives individual on-air tuition from a well-known Welsh teacher. BBC Radio Wales is on 93104 MHz FM and 882/657/1125 kHz AM in Wales. You can also listen on the UK on the Astra satellite on Channel 928. More information by phone from the BBC Wales Information Line on 08700 100 222, or Cardiff +44 (0)29 2032 2000 or Bangor +44 (0)1248 370880. Radio Wales (and hence Catchphrase) is also available live on the internet at http://www.bbc.co.uk/cymru/radio/. See CASSETTE/CD/VIDEO COURSES and ONLINE COURSES for spin-off resources.

BITESIZE TGAU
The BBCs Bitesize revision guide is aimed at British teenagers taking their GCSE (or in Welsh, TGAU) exams, and can be found in the Learning Zone on BBC2 late at night. Also available in an online version.

ONLINE COURSES

MARK NODINE
 http://www.cs.cf.ac.uk/fun/welsh/
Mark Nodines acclaimed online Welsh course, which first appeared on the e-mail list WELSH-L and has had many thousands of visits since, is accompanied by the worlds only online Welsh dictionary. This course is one suitable for beginners. The main emphasis of the course is in developing conversational skills in Welsh as it is currently spoken (as contrasted with teaching the forms needed for understanding literary Welsh). The material is an indirect descendent of the Cymraeg Byw movement of the 1960s and 1970s. This course does not assume a general proficiency in learning languages, nor any previous background in Welsh. The course is also developed in such a way that it can be distributed either through an ASCII medium wrapped as a setext, or made available in HTML on the World Wide Web. The site could certainly do with an update: it bears the dreaded words under construction but has not been updated since November 1996. For years it was the only thing of its kind on the Web, and its still linked to from every Welsh-interest site under the sun. By now time has somewhat passed it by, with the arrival of so many new courses and online dictionaries in recent years, but its still good stuff: well-written and intelligent, and of course free.

The Department of Welsh, University of Wales Lampeter offers a new course which allows people to learn Welsh on the Internet. It is the only University-accredited Welsh course available on the World Wide Web and it can, therefore, offer a pathway into the field of Higher Education. [ . . . ] The course is designed for beginners who have no prior understanding of Welsh. However, students are encouraged to combine the web-based course with conventional classes, where possible, which allow opportunities for oral practice. [ . . . ] Access to a personal tutor, via e-mail and university facilities are available when required. [ . . . ] The student herself/himself decides whether or not to submit work to be assessed. In order to gain the first 40 credits, it will be necessary to sit oral and written tests. Students in Wales will be able to take the tests at a designated centre and overseas students will be able to take the test on the Web or telephone or will use video conference facilities. The initial 40 credits may be added to, by courses on the Web or by traditional methods. It would therefore be possible to accrue sufficient credits (360) for a university degree. First 40 units are free. Grants may be available to those on low incomes living in Wales. For further details or registration, contact the Department Administrator, Linda Thomas (Department of Welsh, University of Wales Lampeter, Lampeter, Ceredigion SA48 7ED; phone: +44(0)1570 424754; fax: +44(0)1570 423874;
e-mail: l.thomas@lamp.ac.uk). The course even has its own trafodfan (discussion area) for people on the course. Theres a taster at http://welsh.lamp.ac.uk/Department/Cyrsiau/camu/cwrs/taster/index.html, but being just the explanation of the Welsh alphabet, its not all that interesting!

ACEN
 http://www.welsh.cd
The Acen On-line Service for Welsh learners is initially aimed at real beginners. If you are an intermediate or advanced student we are unlikely to be able to meet your needs yet  but more elements will be added regularly so please check this site as often as possible. The following features are promised: Choice of learning styles; Video, audio and text; On-line tutor; info about courses and activities; Interactive forum. A trial unit will be available free of charge to all prior to registration. You will need RealAudio/Video (downloadable from the site). The online registration (credit card details etc.) is by non-secure web form, but you can use fax or post if you prefer. Units on Business Welsh may be added later.

CAM YMLAEN
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/catchphrase/camymlaen/index.shtml
If youre a fairly fluent Welsh learner or an A-Level Welsh student, Cam Ymlaen (A Step Forward) is for you. It should help you build up your vocabulary, get to grips with more complex sentence structure and introduce you to some Welsh idioms that will help you sound less like a learner and more like a first-language Welsh speaker. Cam Ymlaens based on the more advanced units of the popular BBC Radio Wales lessons, Catchphrase. So join learner, Beverly Lennon, as she takes a step forward towards fluency. See a taster of this forthcoming free course (part of one lesson) at http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/catchphrase/camymlaen/gwers1-rhan1.shtml

DYMAR NEWYDDION
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/catchphrase/dymarnewyddion/
For more advanced Welsh learners, Dymar Newyddion (Here is the News) is a set of resources to help people who have been learning Welsh for a couple of years to tune into the language used in news stories on radio, TV and the Web and in newspapers. You can both read and listen to each of the nine bulletins. Theres also a vocabulary-builder and a self-test with each one. Free.

CLIC CLIC CYMRAEG
 http://www.menai.ac.uk/clicclic/default.htm
A well-designed, no-gimmicks course in spoken North Welsh, suitable for complete beginners. Twelve lessons each including a dialogue, vocab, grammar and exercises. Includes MP3 sound files for all the words and phrases introduced. Written by Howard Edwards and hosted at Coleg Menai in Bangor. Free.

DYFAL DONC
 http://welshpages.glam.ac.uk/DyfalDonc/CyrchuDD.html
“Dyfal donc a dyr y garreg [a steady tapping breaks the stone]”. From the University of Glamorgan. Features all sorts of gadgets including grammar notes, photostory, pop-up help with vocab, mutations and so on, plus a proverb for each lesson, and even video clips. Now free.

BITESIZE TGAU
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/cymru/tgau/
The BBCs revision guide is aimed at British teenagers taking their GCSE (or in Welsh, TGAU) exams, but its open to all, and doesnt cost any money.

TAUGHT COURSES

It would be a huge, and never-ending, task to compile a fully comprehensive, reliable listing of Welsh classes available in Wales and elsewhere. However, here are some of the main sources of Welsh-language tuition.

NANT GWRTHEYRN
Nant Gwrtheyrn, the residential language-teaching centre, is a fascinating place in its own right: a former quarrying village, nestling in a remote cranny along the coast of the beautiful and very Welsh Lly^n Peninsula. Now also runs courses on Welsh culture, and you can even get bed and breakfast there without doing a course.
tel: +44 (0)1758 750334
e-mail: nantgwr@aol.com.
Web: http://www.nantgwr.com Some information about the history of Nant Gwrtheyrn can be found on the Acen site at http://acen.co.uk/nant/history.shtml.

CYMDEITHAS MADOG
The American Welsh Society, Cymdeithas Madog, is famous for its Cwrs Cymraeg, held in a different place every summer. The 2002 course is at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, from July 2128, and costs anything between $380 and about $600 (scholarships available). http://www.madog.org/cyrsiau/eleni/index.shtml

AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES
The University of Minnesota has a list of Welsh classes at colleges and universities in North America. Contact the institutions listed for more specific information about these courses. http://carla.acad.umn.edu/db/langnames.html#W

UNIVERSITIES WORLDWIDE
This site, compiled by compiled by Maria Wolters of Bonn University, proposes to offer a comprehensive list of universities where you can study Welsh. Seems to have been abandoned a while ago. Defunct?http://www.ikp.uni-bonn.de/~mwo/LCC.html